The present invention relates generally to wheeled refuse containers and, more particularly, to such a refuse container particularly adapted to be nestable with like containers for storage and shipment.
Refuse containers, especially, for example, those employed in municipal trash collection programs, are typically equipped with wheels adjacent one side of the base of the refuse container body to enable users to tip the container into a tilted disposition supported on its wheels for easy rolling movement to and from a refuse collection location.
Given the relative size and bulk of typical wheeled refuse containers of the aforedescribed type, manufacturers typically design the bodies of such containers of a suitably tapered configuration to enable the container bodies to be nested with one another for compact storage and shipment, thereby to reduce required storage space and also to reduce shipping costs.
The provision of wheels on such containers is a complicating factor in designing such refuse containers to be nestable. On the one hand, it is desirable for the manufacturer to pre-mount the wheels to the container at the manufacturer's factory so that the containers can be shipped in a fully assembled condition and thereby eliminate any necessity for the purchaser to perform any assembly of the wheels to the container body. Disadvantageously, however, in order for the containers to still be nestable with the wheels mounted thereto, the wheels must be fully recessed within the "footprint", i.e., the plan dimensions, of the container base, which renders the container somewhat difficult and unstable to maneuver in rolling movement of the container on its wheels during use. Thus, to provide greater stability and ease of use of wheeled refuse containers, many manufacturers ship the container bodies and wheels in a disassembled condition, requiring the purchaser to mount wheels on each container body upon receipt, which is viewed by many purchasers as being equally disadvantageous.